Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are well known, remotely operated platforms that may be used for many tasks. UAVs can be relatively small, allowing for relatively small landing and take-off areas, and can have a relatively small radar cross section (RCS) thus allowing operation in potentially dangerous areas with reduced likelihood of detection and without risking a human pilot. Such UAVs are commonly used in remote surveillance or monitoring operations, to obtain intelligence about activity in an area, or monitor the status of assets or people in a particular area. For example, UAVs may be used in intelligence gathering operations at relatively low altitudes in hostile territory. Another exemplary application of a UAV is monitoring operations, such as monitoring of a border between countries or monitoring assets like pipelines or a convoy which may be targeted by hostile parties. UAVs may be fixed wing aircraft, or rotary-wing aircraft. Furthermore, UAVs may be operated with reduced requirements for take-off and landing areas.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming attractive solutions for non-military applications such as traffic monitoring, fire protection, and border patrol, to name a few examples. UAVs are generally well known for use in military applications, and such military UAVs are generally powerful enough to carry advanced avionics equipment similar to that used in manned vehicles, are typically piloted by a team of highly trained individuals, and require a sufficient capital investment to operate. In non-military applications, UAVs may be less powerful and/or have reduced capability to carry and support avionics equipment similar to that used in manned vehicles.